Chapter 3
Alright, I am enjoying writing this story, so here is a new chapter for you to enjoy~! Anime watchers only beware! BIG SPOILERS from this moment onwards!
The light of a star banished the ice, and now the area's buildings were defrosting rapidly. A hot wind that put the Sargon Desert to shame blew strong. At the epicentre of it, the Son of the Emperor. He was standing tall, his gaze piercing the beings in front of him, his aura causing them to look away in shame no longer able to raise their weapons at such being.
The Primarch had been consciously suppressing his aura up until now, not wanting to use it to bend people to his will, he had released it to give Amiya enough time to get away.
"Yelena..." He spoke his voice booming across the street brimming with authority and disappointment.
The Yeti squadron backed away feeling immense pressure on their shoulders as if a massive boulder had just been dropped while at the same time being blinded by the light of the sun. Their leader was not doing any better, her body shaking just to stand up, her gaze glued to the legs of the being she had just spoken to before being wrapped by a suffocating heat.
"Give me any insight to justify all of this Yelena...I command you to make sense of this madness!" Aurelian spoke as he began to walk towards them.
"Protect...our...sister..." One of the Yeti hissed trying to lift their weapon which all of a sudden weighed a ton.
As soon as their eyes caught a glimpse of the being, the pressure they were feeling made them crumble to the ground unable to move. Frostnova widened her eyes upon seeing her squadron being so crushed by the mere presence of the one she knew as Legion.
She extended her hand towards the son of the Emperor, a simple act that yet required all of her will to perform, and began to gather her arts and chant to launch her attack. The very words of her own incantation almost being forced out of her mouth "Sleep...Sleep..."
Suddenly, she felt her neck being strangled by an invisible force, her eyes shot wide open as she was silenced and the Primarch grew closer and closer, his shadow completely covering her. He stopped in front of her and grabbed her without any hesitation by her neck.
"N-No! Sister...! Someone...! PLEASE!" she heard some of the Yeti squadron beg for help as the giant stared into her eyes.
She finally managed to stare back at him, and met his gaze, accepting her death...perhaps it was the price for all the lives she had taken following Talulah's new regime and not stopping her sooner before the body count hit the roof...
She then felt the warm grip of the Primarch's hand...she felt the hot wind blowing against her skin...She felt again. The pain coming from her body was gone, and her almost completely crystalized lungs were breathing normally. Confusion settled in her mind as the man put her down and slowly his awe-inspiring, blinding and yet-terrifying aura began to disappear along with the pressure that up until now had been crushing her and the Yetis.
She took a few steps back taking deep breaths filling her lungs, something that she had not been able to do in years. She was in pure shock, especially when she no longer felt Legion's wrath upon her. Soon her comrades managed to get up and of course, placed themselves in front of their leader but this time she was the one to tell them to stand down.
"Legion..." She spoke in a calmer tone as she placed her hand on her chest "How did you...?"
"It is one of the many fruits of my pilgrimage...One I had purposely learned to help you all..." He spoke in a saddened tone as he shook his head slowly "To keep doing what was right for the infected and keep you all alive until a cure was found..."
"Why are you with them?" Yelena asked clenching her fists "You know how many of us would need this ability of yours?!"
"I don't help murderers," Aurelian replied sternly looking down at her "I would have helped my friends who fought to protect those like them not those who send them to their deaths hoping to kill as many people as possible for a goal that doesn't help anyone at all..."
She remained calm although she did clench her fist "You don't know anything...You left us..."
The Primarch shook his head almost in anger "There is nothing that can justify what is happening here Yelena, nothing."
"We lost Alina..." She spoke biting her lips "We had deserters, Talulah let them go against one of the shieldguards's advice and they in turn killed her..."
Aurelian was saddened by hearing of the fate of that kind woman but as much as he was saddened by the news he was nowhere near being convinced "Alina would be horrified by this war you are waging."
The bunny girl bit on her lip "It wasn't just that! So many times we found ourselves in front of injustices done to our kind! Not just the Ursus army! But the normal folk! They killed infected despite being no threat to anyone just because of their sickness! Talulah...she..."
"Reunion...was meant to make the world bend to its knees...not through violence...but through understanding..." The giant replied unwaveringly.
"We are bending it..." She replied.
"You don't even believe your words...because deep down, you know that the one that bent was not the world but Reunion. Instead of changing the world, you started playing by its rules and now the blood of thousands of innocents is on your hands," The Primarch replied dryly "And now it falls to my hands to salvage what remains of that dream."
"Salvage?" She asked before remembering a few reports "Those deserters...it is your doing, isn't it?"
He nodded "There are some that joined Reunion to protect not to destroy and I have taken it upon myself to help them to do just that...I am surprised Talulah even spoke about it..."
"The official report is that you are a traitor and you are responsible for the deaths of all squads in the slums...but she told the truth to the leaders to prepare ourselves for the eventuality of fighting our own led by a certain pythia..."
"You will not..." He spoke firmly "I will not send the infected against their kind and their former comrades, the only one you will be fighting is me...And you have my word that I will put an end to this dark chapter of this story, realign our goals and make sure we'll never go astray again."
"Then why have you spared me...?" She asked touching her neck "For the likes of you, it would have been a second to snap my neck..."
"I felt your hatred...the same hatred that had its grip on whoever I felled with my blade but then I felt something else...regret...shame...worry for your men and instinct to protect them...even as you fought my presence, you didn't want them to be caught in the crossfire. The Reunion that sat around that fireplace in the Ursus tundra was still there and for me, it was enough reason to not harm you," He explained calmly "So I ask you again...why is Talulah doing all of this? She was naive sure but not to the point that she would ever think that taking Lungmen would actually help the infected...Yelena shine some light on this puzzle that I can't wrap my head around..."
Frostnova slowly nodded closing her eyes "After Alina's death...Talulah changed...at first, she was just stricter...colder. Things got worse when we ran into some Emperor's blades who told us that Talulah was the daughter of a count...some started to doubt her and even though we kept pledging loyalty to her, she knew that her own people didn't trust her...and then the straw that broke the camel's back. We came across a village that had starved to death the infected after having luring them in...Talulah burned them and she changed...from that point on, it went all downhill incredibly fast."
The Primarch listened very closely, feeling guilty for his decision to leave since perhaps he could have stopped this fall from grace. He could also tell that the woman in front of him felt the same kind of guilt.
"It is time to put an end to this Yelena..." He spoke solemnly.
Understanding what he was hinting at, Yelena shook her head "No! I intend to confront her after Lungmen, I will get an answer from them on what she wants to achieve with Reunion I-"
"Whatever she wants to achieve is not worth it...This twisted version of Reunion will never see the end of this conflict, Yelena...Either by my hands or Yan's army," He replied with a long sigh.
A cold wind began to blow "You swore loyalty to her too...yet you already given her your verdict..."
"I swore my blade to the kind girl that helped others like you, I swore to help the girl who made those sweets that even now you are thinking about...and I have not given any verdict...before giving one, I want to find out if the Tyrant is all that is left," He spoke now calmly placing one his hands on her shoulder "But if there is a single smidge of the girl who we have met, I'll do what I can to bring her back, you have my word."
"I'll help you," She replied shaking her head.
"No, it is something that I must do alone...if the Talulah we knew is no longer there...then I do not want your last memory of her to be one bathed in blood," He spoke shaking his head "Instead, I wish you would help me with keeping order..."
"Keeping order?" She asked confused by the proposition.
He nodded "I will bring the infected of the Lungmen's slums somewhere that they can call home, somewhere far away and that will make our dream come true. As we speak the soldiers who have deserted are building the habitations where they will be staying...but with the influx of new people, there will surely be troubles and so having someone like you would allow me to focus on bringing down Talulah without worrying. There is already helping me with this but I do not want to burden her too much..."
"You are already taking me for granted..." She replied turning around and looking at the Yeti squadron "That I would betray her..."
"You will not betray her...if anything, you'd be loyal to the Talulah we knew and to Alina, doing what they would have wanted..." He spoke offering his hand.
She looked at her soldiers who in turn bowed their heads telling her that whatever she would choose, they would follow her. They entrusted their lives to her and proceeding with Talulah's plan could lead to their death that could be in vain...
"If you want our help...You will have to earn...it..." A deep and old voice spoke.
Yelena turned around seeing her father marching towards them followed by some of the guerrillas.
The Primarch slightly bowed his head at the old warrior in a sign of respect "Buldrokkas...By which trial should I do that?"
Patriot slammed his shield down on the ground "The same one that she had gone through...but you will not fight Yelena...It is I that shall be your opponent..."
"Old man! Don't get ahead of yourself!" Frostnova spoke trying to convince her father to desist.
"...No, you shall both fight me. No regrets, no holding back, send you men away so that we may not have to worry about them being caught by our battle..." Aurelian spoke bracing his weapons.
"No way! We'll stay with our sister!" one of the Yetis spoke shaking their head.
Frostnova raised her arm and shook her head "Go away...keep yourself safe..."
Patriot simply looked at the guerrillas and they began to move away followed by a reluctant Yeti squadron.
"I know about how you waged this war Buldrokkas, the reports spoke about your guerrillas not taking lives where it was not needed..." The Primarch spoke shifting his body in a fighting stance.
Patriot raised his shield in front of him while preparing himself to launch his spear "I never strayed from our purpose...Let us fight now...Prove to be a leader worth following."
"Sleep sleep...Oh, my little child. You may close your eyes..." Yelena began chanting as a blizzard appeared out of nowhere enveloping the area in cold winds and ice.
Patriot ran towards the Primarch focusing his arts on his spear before launching it with all the strength he could muster.
Aurelian raised his shield and a violent shockwave erupted in all directions as Patriot's spear clashed against his defences before being ultimately repelled. Without hesitation, the Primarch closed the distance between the two of them ramming his shield into Patriot's with such force that the asphalt beneath them broke and the Sarkaz Wendigo was sent backwards.
Before Aurelian could continue to press Patriot, a wall of ice erupted from beneath him. He jumped away but the ice followed each step, forcing him to take off the ground and expand his wings.
As soon as he did, what seemed to be an infinite amount of dark ice shards of various sizes appeared around him from all directions and launched themselves at him. The smallest among them were repelled from the forcefield of his armour but the constant assault was able to get some of the bigger ones through only for them to crash against his plates.
The Primarch's psychic might awoke once again and the sky darkened as stormy clouds began appearing before erupting into a rain of golden lightning bolts which melted the ice storm and began striking the ground easily ripping open the buildings around them.
Frostnova found herself needing to focus on her defensive arts as even being near one of those bolts was enough to send a painful electric shock all around her body.
The Primarch flew down now not bothered by Frostnova's arts and began to unleash a series of slashes at Patriot who in the meantime had recovered his spear. The Wendigo raised his shield but with each block, a piece of it broke until he found himself unprotected. As a desperate measure, he grabbed onto Aurelian's spear trying to take it away from his hands.
It felt like trying to move a mountain and as one would expect, the mountain was not budging. Patriot used his spear to stab into the neck guard but his blow was deflected by the Primarch's shield resulting in the spear breaking apart.
Aurelian raised his massive shield above his head ready to bring it down on Patriot's body but a pillar of ice wrapped itself around his arm preventing him from doing it. Using his strength alone, he broke the ice but soon the pillar was once again around his arm.
He saw Frostnova singing her song with one hand creating a dome around herself protecting herself from the lightning storm while the other offered support to her father.
The Primarch released the wrath of Sol sending an intense heatwave all around himself. Melting the ice away in the area.
Yelena widened her eyes but before she could recover her dome broke and she was struck by lightning knocking her out of the fight defeated.
Patriot's eyes focused on his daughter's unconscious body and let out a warcry filled with rage. He used the originium on his body to enhance his strength and instead of holding onto the halberd, he slammed his body against the Primarch's. Having moved past the halberd and the shield, he began throwing a series of punches that carried all of his fury and wrath to Aurelian's head, all of them reaching the target.
Aurelian was surprised by the sudden prowess shown by the old veteran, something deserving of the utmost respect...but he was using Originium effectively shortening his life something that Aurelian couldn't accept.
Dropping his weapons, Aurelian grabbed onto Patriot's back and raised him above his head before throwing him against a building making him crash through several walls. Then he raised his arm and lightning bolts shot from his fingertips.
Despite the psychic forces that were electrifying his body, Patriot rose from the ground slowly walking towards the Primarch...but then his armour broke and his legs gave in forcing him to fall again.
"It is my win..." The Son of the Emperor spoke looking at his opponent with awe.
But he frowned for a second as a dome of ice surrounded Patriot before he was hit by a glacial blizzard and Yelena's song reached his ears once more.
Ice started forming at his feet and on his armour. The HUD of his helmet warned him about the critical low temperature comparable to the one of space itself.
Aurelian looked at the origin of the Blizzard seeing Yelena singing her heart out giving her all for this fight...He would have respected her will and so his armour began to glow as his body and his surroundings began to heat up. His wings glowed like never before.
He then placed his halberd down along with his shield and reached for his back slowly pulling out the Power Sword his father gifted him. There was a hissing sound as the scabbard opened itself revealing the magnificent blade made of pure golden light. It was impossible to turn off, the fragment of Emperor was simply too much to be simply 'turned off'. Instead, the scabbard itself was a device made to disrupt the matter disruption field and allow the storage of the blade.
He grabbed the blade with both hands and swung the weapon into the air unleashing a controlled Solar flare banishing the blizzard completely and melting away at Yelena's arts who had fallen to her knees.
The fight was over and just in time for this world's sun to rise.
"Thank you Father..." He spoke putting the Lux Lunae back into its scabbard and walking up to Yelena.
"If only...we had waited for you...perhaps it wouldn't have come to this..." She muttered exhausted.
"It doesn't matter anymore..." He spoke kneeling in front of her and offering his hand "It matters only what you will do now."
"You beat us both...I think that's the final verdict is it not?" she replied with a chuckle.
"No," He refused her words shaking his head "I do not want you to join me because I defeated you, only if you want to."
She smirked a bit and let out another chuckle "You just want me to say it...I will join you but let me ask you something first."
"What is it?" He replied raising an eyebrow.
"You held back didn't you?" She asked.
Aurelian remained silent before grabbing her hand "I gave you my all...that wouldn't have killed you."
"So there is more..." she spoke.
"In my homeland...There is only war to the point that what happens here on Terra looks like children pretending to be soldiers. In that grim darkness, there are countless ways to end not only a life but to completely obliterate it along with its soul...And my father taught me how to use them all. Compared, the number of ways that avoid a lethal end is abysmal." he explained calmly.
She frowned a bit at that knowledge not knowing about a land like that "Is that so...?"
He nodded "To put into perspective, the Ursus government look like saints compared to those who run my father's empire..."
This caused Yelena to frown even more "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"I will not keep any secrets from my allies...Secrets cause only strife...and I..." He stopped himself as he looked in the distance towards Lungmen receiving a call from Lin Yushia.
Yelena checked the time and looked at the Primarch "Mephisto and Faust...they attacked the LGD HQ while we were here..."
"No...I do not care for that..." The Primarch spoke darkly getting up "The slums are about to be purged, I must go, meet me at the slums with all those willing to follow you and Patriot."
"We will not leave," Patriot spoke getting up "Someone must stay here to keep an eye on the situation...And to take on Talulah's regime...At this point, it is impossible to avoid a fight between the two Reunions...We'll be called traitors..."
"They are the ones who betrayed the infected...I must go now, here is my number should you need it..." Aurelian spoke grabbing Yelena's phone and adding his number before bending his knees ready to launch himself in the air.
"wait," Yelena called stopping the Primarch from leaving "Faust and Mephisto...can we bring them with us?"
The Primarch remained silent "Mephisto...the reports speak of him as a sadistic maniac...if he comes, it must be in cuffs, speak with Nine about that, here is her number," He spoke adding Nine's number to Yelena before taking off.
Lin was standing on top of a rooftop with a walkie-talkie in hand, she had received the order to begin the purge of the slums to avoid having Reunion recruit the infected there...but apparently, some Reunion ring leader had also begun to use a new form of arts that apparently allowed him to use the infected at will...
She saw her father's gray tails helping move the people of the slums towards the biggest open space in the area. She wondered how this Aurelian was going to take them away when so far away from the city harbour...She stared at the group of infected gathered but did not see anyone who could be the man who had contacted her.
"What are you waiting for?" A female voice said from behind the woman.
She turned around and saw three figures wearing red robes and hoods "The infected gathered down there...the perfect opportunity isn't it?"
Lin remained emotionless as she bit the bullet in front of the imperial censors and brought the walkie-talkie to her mouth "All units...deal with the threat."
As she spoke dozens of shadow guards appeared from the rooftops and launched themselves into the square where the infected had gathered.
Hygieia was in the crowd trying to keep everyone calm but she herself was shaking in fear, they had gathered where Aurelian had told them to but the only thing she could think of was that they were as exposed as it gets and also without any fast escape route...Then she saw the Shadow Guards landing in front of her with their swords at hand and her blood ran cold...
The Shadow Guards began approaching them already readying their swing when suddenly they stopped, they began to grunt in pain before starting to scream while clenching their chest...and then fire erupted from beneath their masks. Some of them managed to take off their masks in their pain revealing the haunting visage. A consuming fire was coming from their eyes and mouths, quickly devouring their insides before incinerating the rest of their body.
The guards were taken aback by the sudden madness, stopping in their tracks and trying to see if there was a caster between the crowd that could have done that...but the answer came in the form of a halberd falling from the sky and impaling another guard soon followed by its owner who slowly landed at the side of the weapon before retrieving it from the body.
The infected were relieved to see the giant clad in armour, especially Hygieia, who sighed in relief seeing the Primarch.
Aurelian walked to the ground and placed his shield in front of them before grabbing his halberd with both hands. The sky darkened, and the catastrophe sensors went crazy as a psychic dome formed around the infected leaving them in awe.
Lin Yushia couldn't believe her own eyes while the Imperial Censors had a confused and outraged expression.
"Leader, what do we do?" A call came from the walkie-talkie from the Shadow Guards.
Lin stared at her radio not knowing what to say, the event that had just transpired had shaken her.
One of the Imperial Censors grabbed the walkie-talkie "Destroy that man! He is a threat to Lungmen! And Yan! It is the will of the Empire!"
"Roger that, engaging," The Shadow Guard replied before hanging up.
With their new orders, the shadow guards lunged at the Primarch without a single shadow of a doubt. Despite his immense physique and heavy armour, the Primarch was faster than all of them as he swung his halberd cutting in half the guards who had jumped into the air. He then removed one of his hands from his weapons and immediately grabbed onto an attacker that came from the flank, with a simple squeeze, their head was crushed.
A barrage of projectiles hit the Primarch's force field prompting him to raise his hand and shoot golden lighting bolts from his fingertips making his attackers burst open in a shower of gore and blood. From his right side, a flurry of Originium-enhanced arrows was launched at him only to be repelled from the force field like the previous attacks. Aurelian aimed his storm bolters and returned the attack in kind as the bolt rounds shredded the Shadow Guard Snipers.
Another group of guards jumped from behind aiming for the gap between the Primarch's helmet and armour. Before they could even reach the force field, the Son of the Emperor's wings ignited in a burst of solar flare incinerating them in an instant.
The frontal assault had been a total failure with all that partook in it dead. The Shadow Guard began engaging from the distance planning to tire the Primarch out with a constant assault. The Casters repositioned themselves and so did the Snipers while the Guards protected them.
Meanwhile, the infected were in awe as they laid their eyes upon their relentless protector who alone was standing against those who had come to purge them. Some Sankta Infected were completely entranced by the presence of the Primarch, they began muttering prayers speaking of He who stands above the Law, the Angel of Death, Justice Incarnate as their halos and wings glowed stronger. The other infected cheered for their defender, and despite the horrific fight, they felt moved by the Son of the Emperor who was standing up to an entire nation just to protect them.
Nine watched from afar as she and the Reunion deserters helped more infected to get to the dome where the psychic dome was. In all honesty, the woman for a second had doubted the Primarch's intention when she learned that he had told the infected to go to the same place where the Shadow Guard was going to be, thinking that he might actually be working with Wei to deal with the infected all at once...but seeing him ripping apart the elite of Lungmen banished that thought and she was able to put the pieces in place.
The Primarch had made himself a priority target, he had to show the Imperial Censors that so long he lived, they would never get to the infected. This way, they will have to focus the Shadow Guard on him allowing Nine to gather more deserters and infected to take to Requiem. His plan was working quite well as, so far, they hadn't come across any Shadow Guard loyal to Wei but only those working for the Rat King who were hiding the infected...There was only one problem left.
The horde of mindless zombies that Mephisto had created during the assault at the LGD HQ that had taken place during the night. With her arts, Nine was able to counter them most of the time but she was starting to grow tired and so were the deserters who during the fighting were also getting injured by the monsters...Fortunately, backup had arrived, in a surprising fashion of course, but Nine was not going to complain.
Frostnova and the yeti squadron had finally arrived and through the use of their ice arts, they were able to contain the monsters or redirect them towards the LGD forces in the area to keep them busy while they kept the evacuation going.
With the monsters being taken care of, Yelena looked at the group of former Reunion led by Nine "Who is Nine?"
Nine stepped in front of the soldiers "I am, you came right on time, we were starting to get overwhelmed...We need to get these people to the square before we extract."
Yelena nodded "We need to recover someone else first, do you have arts nullifying cuffs?"
"Yes, why do you need them?" Nine spoke frowning at the request as she reached for her hip and took the cuffs.
"The people we are going to extract are not going to be happy about it..." Frostnova replied with a bittersweet tone.
Nine was still a bit confused at the statement before understanding what she meant and nodding "Lead the way then..."
The Yeti Squadron and the former Reunion members headed to their last stop, an abandoned building that had become the hideout for Faust and Mephisto. Seeing Yelena, the shadow crossbowmen were more than happy to come to greet them. Nine kept her cool having told the others to also act naturally until the leader of the Yeti Squadron was ready to act.
"See Faust! She came! We can finally take the city! They will not stop us now!" Mephisto spoke happy to see Frostnova with his usual deranged laugh.
Yelena was actually surprised to see that Skullshutterer was also there, sitting in a corner, not wearing his uniform which was probably taken away from him after his arrest along with his weapons. She looked at Faust with a stern expression.
"Those monsters..." She spoke but before she could continue Mephisto burst out laughing.
"You seen them right? Aren't they great? They will take care of the guards! I can make her as many as needed I can-"
The sound cuffs echoed across the room as Yelena put them on Mephisto's hands. Faust immediately raised his ballista but was unable to use it as ice had completely ruined the mechanism. Plants started growing all of a sudden immobilizing him and Skullshatterer as Nine and the others tackled and disarmed the crossbowmen.
"Yelena...?" Mephisto spoke in shock as he looked down at his hands confused.
Frostnova closed her eyes and sighed "This has to stop...We went too far, in the wrong direction."
"No...No...No! We can still win! My pack! They will win! They will-"
"It's over!" Yelena shouted causing the boy to recoil back.
"...You...turned your back to Talulah didn't you?" He shouted back angrily "That's why you are doing! You betrayed us!"
"She turned her back on us!" Frostnova replied shaking her head.
Nine stepped between them "Enough! We don't have time for this! He is waiting for us! We gotta go."
Yelena bit her lip and nodded as the Yeti Squadron escorted their former comrades outside. One of Nine's scouts came running towards them.
"Primarch is fighting those guys with black raincoats! It's a massacre!"
As soon as he spoke, everyone began running towards the main square hoping to still be in time...They did not expect to see what was before them. On one side, a white dome of ethereal light was protecting the infected...On the other, most of the ground was covered in blood and the bodies of those wearing the black raincoats, some of them were burnt to a crisp, others cut apart...and some were a blob of meat. Aurelian was standing in the middle, the golden lining of his armour stained with the blood of the Shadow Guards which was also dripping from the edge of his halberd.
The air was filled with a strong smell of burnt meat and something akin to the smell of fireworks. The buildings around the square were heavily damaged with even more dead Shadow Guards inside of them. The only ones left standing were three hodded figures with red raincoats, the Imperial Censors.
"Aurelian!" Nine called only for the Primarch to point at the dome.
The New Reunion and those they had captured entered the barrier. Mephisto and Faust remained close to each other who in turn were being protected by the Shadow Crossbowmen. The Infected of the slums stared at the Reunion members with a mixture of disbelief and anger.
Yelena approached the Primarch wanting to offer her support but he raised his hand as more people came to the square...The LGD and Rhodes Island. She looked at him with a worried expression which turned into surprise when she saw him brandishing his halberd once more ready to continue his fighting.
"I made my choice Yelena, I am with you...Now I must face the consequences alone...Go. Once the remaining infected are brought here, we'll leave..."
She slowly nodded and walked back into the dome helping Nine keep an eye over Mephisto, Faust and Skullshatterer.
The LGD officers formed a firing line aimed at Aurelian under Ch'en's and Swire's orders. Amiya was about to tell them to stop when Kal'tsit appeared and stopped her. The woman then looked at the operators.
"Support the officers, strike down the Reunion forces...all of them,"
Doctor Croft, Amiya, Blaze and Greaythroat were shocked to hear those words. The Doctor was the first to step forward towards the firing line.
"We don't have to do this! Aurelian! You can still stop this!" she shouted.
"The blood running down my feet says otherwise...and so do their orders," He spoke pointing at the Imperial Censors.
Ch'en raised an eyebrow at that and looked at the censors with her arms crossed "What is he talking about?"
The hooded one in the middle looked at the Lung Officer and scoffed "The infected pose a threat to Lungmen and by correlation to Yan, it is necessary for the survival of our great nation for them to be gone."
Amiya and Doctor Croft widened their eyes at those words before looking at Aurelian not knowing what to say or do then they looked at Kal'tsit while clenching their fists.
Ch'en remained calm and resolute as she pointed her sword at the Primarch "Men! A Reunion Leader stands before you take him down!"
"Yes Ma'am!" They all shouted back letting loose their darts at their target.
The attack was overall futile as not a single one of those crossbow bolts managed to get past the forcefield of the Primarch's armour having failed to break through it like the attacks of the Shadow Guard. Ch'en ordered them to continue attacking and so they did with the same result.
The Imperial Censors were frustrated at the situation but the one in the middle began to wonder why was the Primarch not moving and what was his plan...then she noticed that as the stalemate continued, more infected entered the dome from the various alleys. Her enemy was taking time, for what she did not know but it hardly mattered.
"Men! Aim at the infected in the alleys! Do not let them reach that barrier!"
Ch'en bit her lip "IGNORE THE LAST ORDER IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"
The Imperial Censor looked at the Officer with an angered expression "You lack the authority to overrule my order chief of police!"
Swire crossed her arms and stepped next to check before pointing at Aurelian "THE VERY MOMENT WE FOLLOW THAT ORDER, HE WILL KILL US ALL!"
"WHOEVER DOES NOT ABIDE BY SAID ORDER WILL BE CONSIDERED A TRAITOR!" Another censor shouted angrily.
The Police Officers looked among themselves and then at their chief who had a frustrated expression on them.
"Enough of this!" Someone else shouted and to everyone's shock.
Wei's wife, Lady Fumizuki had entered the square escorted by a group of shadow guards. She carefully moved to avoid stepping on the corpses and the blood on the ground as she approached the LGD defensive line.
"Lower your weapons," She ordered calmly.
"Lady Fumizuki, they are a threat to Lungmen and Yan itself!" One of the Censors spoke.
"Not from what I am told," She spoke as Lin Yushia walked to her side and bowed "Is it true that Mister Aurelian so far has only reacted to attacks launched towards him or the infected that he is protecting?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Lin spoke solemnly.
The Lung then looked at the Primarch and very nonchalantly began to walk towards him.
"LADY FUMIZUKI IT IS DANGEROUS!" Swire shouted wanting to reach the woman only to be stopped by Ch'en "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Ch'en gestured her to remain silent and so Lady Fumizuki reached the Primarch standing a couple of feet away from him but still in reach of his halberd.
"You are not going to hurt me, are you lad?" She spoke with a gentle smile and sharp eyes.
Aurelian shook his head setting his halberd to the side "I have no reason to."
"It would seem that my husband may have misjudged the threat of the Reunion and under the pressure of certain individuals," She eyed the Imperial Censors "Has taken a rash decision...Perhaps we can find a way to avoid further losses."
Aurelian slowly nodded "All I ask for, is to let me take those under my protection away from here, somewhere that will not cause trouble to Lungmen and Yan."
"A reasonable request that would give both parties what they want, a secure city and the survival of the infected...Although there is a single problem with such a proposal," She looked past Aurelian at the Reunion members under the Primarch's custody "I see among your protected those who have brought countless troubles to our city and that have damaged a lot of it including the LGD HQ among other things..."
"I shall pay for reparations..." Aurelian spoke solemnly "As for those who fought for the tyrant, they shall be judged by an unbiased court and punished accordingly, you have my word."
"Money is nothing we are concerned with..." She looked at the dead shadow guards and then back at the Primarch "You have proved to be a force to be reckoned with able to take on our elite troops with ease...In the current state, Lungmen has lost its most precious protectors to you so it would be only fair for you to replace them until the crisis is fully averted and Lungmen safe once more."
"Indeed it would be only fair for me to do so...So long I am not used to bringing forth strife and death to the innocent," He replied offering his hand to the woman.
She took it and shook it "We have a deal then...Continue with your business and leave..."
With that said, Lady Fumizuki returned to the LGD and looked at Ch'en and Amiya "What are you doing? There are still threats within the cities to be taken care of, go."
The woman imperial censor approached the lady "To lower ourselves to their level! You bring shame to our office!"
"I brought salvation to your office and Lungmen..." Fumizuki replied calmly "While also helping Yan. I kept you from sending more of our precious troops to certain death and gained a powerful ally in the process...Perhaps if the censors were wiser and less hasty we would have gotten the same result without losing our precious resources."
With that said, the Lung left the slums followed by her bodyguards.
Doctor Croft sighed relieved to not have to fight the Primarch especially since she had no idea if they would have been able to fight him at all...
As Ch'en withdrew her forces under Fumizuki's orders, Amiya and the others approached Aurelian who in turn turned the bodies and the blood in the area into ash.
"What will you do now?" The Leader of Rhodes Island asked looking at him
"We will leave for the time being, regroup and reorganize then I will deal with Talulah..." Aurelian spoke solemnly as he looked at her and the others.
"Why even bother?" Suddenly Greythroat asked narrowing her eyes at him "Are you infected?"
"I am not" He replied sternly looking back at the sniper operator.
"Then why are you ruining your life for the infected? You could have simply ignored all of this and wouldn't have affected you..." She continued.
"Are you immune to Oripathy?" He rebutted causing the others to frown at the question and confuse his interlocutor who simply shook her head.
"Then tell me...What if one day maybe by simply walking in the wrong place at the wrong time, a small particle of originium entered your body...and then after a checkup, you find out that you are infected...As soon the news spreads, the nation you called your home tells you that you no longer possess any rights to their eyes and to wait to be purged...Or perhaps they tell you that you are exiled or that you have to move to the slums with the other infected...Would you not want someone who knows that Oripathy doesn't define you? Wouldn't you want someone offered a helping hand?"
Greythroat remained silent but eventually, she nodded.
"I am doing just that, I refused to ignore the infected plead for help and swoop them under a rag...and I made it my mission to help them," The Primarch concluded.
"But Aurelian, the Reunion is not the way!" Blaze intervened shaking her head "You saw them! How they terrorized both infected and non-infected!"
"I also saw them before any of this happened, when they fought valiantly to defend the infected from the purges...That's the Reunion I pledged myself to and now I am correcting their course, realigning it to what they stood for," He replied.
"Then why can't you join Rhodes Island?" This time Amiya interjected "We fight for the same thing! To help the infected!"
"Indeed but there is a key difference between Reunion and Rhodes Island..." The Primarch replied "You are a charitable organization that aims to be medics first and security forces last...Reunion is an army with the objective of fighting for those who cry for help not caring about who the enemy is, be it an organization like yours or a nation like Ursus. We will save them and take them away to a safe place without arming those who have nothing to do with us...Now we are small...but give it time and we shall raise an army devoted to protect the infected."
"Aurelian..." Someone called from the dome which turned out to be Nine "All civilians are here...It is time to go..."
The Primarch nodded "Should you ever need it...call for us and we will come..."
He looked at his mother who had kept herself away from the group, she gave him a nod which he Son of the Emperor marched towards the dome. He stretched out his hand and touched it before a blinding light enveloped the entire square...When everyone was able to see again, Aurelian and the infected were gone leaving no traces behind.
Yelena opened her eyes after being flashed and immediately she was greeted by a serene landscape and the gentle sound of waves. She turned around and saw the ocean.
The infected around her had a similar reaction but before they could make sense of their surroundings Nine and Aurelian began to walk towards the mountains gesturing to follow them.
Yelena snapped from her surprised tranche and ran to the Primarch's side.
"Bring Mephisto, Faust and Skullshatterer to the cave," he spoke pointing at the entrance to the mountain.
She kept quiet about the many questions she had and instead went back to the group of infected and with the Yetis brought the other Reunion leaders to the cave.
"Yelena, where are you taking us?" Faust asked as he kept Mephisto close to him.
"Do not talk to her!" Skullshatterer growled at the two staring at Frostnova full of hatred "She betrayed us! All of us!"
Nine suddenly grabbed the reunion leader and began to drag him fastening her walking "Get them moving because I don't think we can keep them safe here."
Yelena frowned before Nine gestured behind her with her head, when the bunny girl turned around, she saw the infected civilians staring at them with angered expressions.
The two women brought Faust and the others to the cave seeing that it was already prepared to house someone. As a precautionary measure, Yelena created a wall of ice at its entrance.
When they returned, they saw Misha and the deserters already there helping the others get situated. They were leading them to the various shacks they had built giving them blankets, water and food.
Aurelian was helping his doctor friend move her patients to one of the bigger shacks which he had connected to the solar panels himself to keep the equipment running.
Yelena went to talk to him as soon as he was done, she was worried for her father who had remained in Chernobog. Sooner or later, Talulah will find out about her desertion and will probably retaliate against her father's forces.
The Primarch looked at her and nodded "I Know what worries you, tomorrow I will head over to your father and put an end to this but now...I have to take care of things here, your father is strong, if he's attacked he will have no problems resisting until our arrival. Now rest, you need it, take the cottage, tell Misha I allowed you."
"Shouldn't we create a perimeter? Bolivarians could come at any moment..." She guessed their location only to be met with a chuckle from the man.
"Unless Bolivarians managed to reach other planets, we are safe Yelena...Terra cannot reach us..." He spoke leaving the rabbit girl in shock as the meaning of those words dawned on her.
The rest of the day was spent moving people, giving them what they needed, ensuring them that everything would have been alright. Misha had been surprisingly useful, it would seem like she had spent the time without Aurelian to get to know the land a bitter better and so she was able to provide useful info for the new residents of the world. Nine and Yelena were able to keep order as the Primarch asked, his worries proved to be correct as a few Graytails were trying to set up a gang there unaware that their kingpin could not reach them nor help them. There was a bit of doubt on how to treat them as in Requiem there was no written law but Aurelian told Nine to uphold Lungmen's laws for now and that when everything was over, he would write the fundamentals of their new nation. A statement that surprised most who heard it.
Yelena felt a sense of nostalgia when she saw their new home littered with campfires just like when the Reunion had begun, the improvised police patrolled the place making sure that everyone was safe and besides a few easily resolved disputes things were going smoothly. Most of the people, especially the sankta, were gathered around Aurelian who in turn was sitting with them at the campfire and just like Talulah before, he was speaking of a new beginning and that they would have built a nation on knowledge and free. He told them that it would take a while since they were so few but eventually, if they collaborated, they would find themselves living even better than before getting infected or persecuted.
Most people were easily swayed by his words and despite all that had happened with Talulah, even Yelena felt her heartbeat growing faster and instinctively believed his promises even though she knew she shouldn't...but she couldn't help it but believe him as if her instincts were telling her that.
By midnight, most collapsed due to the fatigues they had endured during the day...but Aurelian kept his watch, he was a lone tower making sure that everyone was safe. She wanted to tell him to rest but...
"He is not going to listen...He hasn't slept since he arrived at Lungmen...I doubt he will until the crisis is averted..." Misha spoke yawning as she walked to Yelena's side.
"It's been a week though..." Frostnova muttered getting a shrug from Misha.
She then noticed the similarity the girl had with Skullshatterer and raised an eyebrow "You are Misha right?"
"Yeah..." she replied nervously a bit when admitting that "And you are...part of the old Reunion..."
Yelena nodded "Yeah...Your brother...he spoke a lot about finding you..."
Misha looked down a bit teary-eyed at the mention of her brother "Is that so...?"
Frostnova realized that she had been a bit indiscreet "Sorry...for all that is worth...What is going on...is for the best. With both of you here, there is still time to mend you relationship..."
"I guess..." Misha replied before yawning again "It is pretty late...we should go to sleep...I don't think he needs us for now...He told me to lead you to the cottage."
Yelena nodded and so she followed the little girl into the cottage and upstairs, she saw the giant bed and chuckled a bit. The two of them 'shared' the bed despite having several meters between them.
They slept soundly for once...but their tranquillity was broken when someone screamed. Immediately, Yelena jumped on her feet and rushed downstairs and outside...but she was not ready for what was happening.
Everyone was hiding in their huts, hiding themselves as they stared at the sky with fear in their eyes.
Yelena laid her eyes on the cause of all this panic. Massive flying...fortresses were eclipsing the sun. She could see their intricate designs and statues at the sides of them...along with what she guessed were countless cannons.
Aurelian was the only one standing in the open staring at at the ships seemingly waiting for something.
She dared to run towards him "What is happening?"
"You recall when I mentioned my father's empire?" He spoke with a serious tone.
She simply nodded not daring to speak.
"This is one of his armies..." He spoke making Frostnova look up again in fear.
Before she could speak, the sounds of engines caught their attention as two bird-like red aircraft began landing next to them. The bunny girl saw a symbol on them, a skull inside a cog.
When they landed, various hodded individuals got off. When she peered under their hood she only saw metal and LED lights. She then realized that every inch of their body was metal.
They approached, and she instinctively braced for a fight but Aurelian stopped her.
They stopped and began emitting some noises that sounded like a malfunctioning radio. Yelena was surprised when Aurelian simply stared back at them and in reply they kept making those sounds...Since it felt like a back-and-forth, the woman understood that they were actually talking.
"What are they saying...?" she whispered.
Aurelian looked at her "Oh right...They speak in Lingua-Technis...They asked me to go to their ship to talk with their leader..."
Yelena looked up at the various ships still almost shivering in front of their overwhelming presence "...Is it a good idea?"
"I must go even if it is not..." He replied calmly.
"Which ship?" Yelena asked once more.
Aurelian pointed to the sky, Yelena followed his directions and saw that a massive ship was cruising higher than all the others. It also had a similar symbol as the aircraft.
"I'll be back Yelena...hopefully, not alone."
As he said that, he disappeared into thin air. The Hodded strangers stared at the bunny girl before using their strange language again.
"I don't understand..." She spoke trying to not sound hostile.
"Reverting to sub-standard radio output," The leader of the group spoke "Greetings...citizen of the Second Son. We were asked by your leader to secure the area in his absence. In particular, the prison. Point us in the right direction."
As soon as they spoke, more hooded figures got off the other aircrafts, they were different as they had some sort of rifles with them and, unlike the one Yelena was speaking to, these had backpacks and antennas sticking out their backs. They moved in unison and with perfect coordination and only stopped to stare at the woman.
Yelena was incredibly weirded out by them and not to happy to bring these complete strangers to the cave but she didn't want to cause any complications for Aurelian so she slowly nodded and began to lead them to their improvised prison.
As they walked, the strangers split up, stopping at precise points. She was confused at first but then she noticed that the various strangers were setting a perimeter around the entire camp. The civilians were still scared, not daring to come out of their hutts limiting themselves to looking at the new arrivals from the windows.
As they reached the cave, the one who spoke to her looked and touched the ice wall she had created before looking at his comrades and talking to them in that strange tongue and then looking back at her "Analysis, ambient temperature too high for ice formations at this altitude. Sampled Ice shows no signs of melting despite high temperature. Conclusion, sampled ice is artificial. Question, how was the sampled ice made?"
Yelena lifted her arm and opened her palm creating an ice crystal as a reply.
The hooded figures got closer to her, their visors scanning the arts casting as they kept talking using the Lingua Technis probably trying to figure out how was ice being made...
Aurelian appeared in one of the many hangars of the Ark Mechanicum as pointed out by the Tech-Priests that had come down to Requiem. During their brief talk, they had expressed their leader's intention to not cause harm to anyone down there and so he had asked them to watch over everyone during his meeting.
The Primarch's eyes laid on the magnificent church-like structure of the massive ships. He felt a sense of childlike wonder as he began walking through the various halls. He saw the members of the admech silently and diligently working on the ship, very few of them seemed to be noticing his presence and even fewer reacted to him.
He passed through the massive forge, most of the machines were not in use but the entire forge was still impressive nonetheless. He was led further and further into the ship, he felt like he had been walking forever but he knew that the ships of the Imperium were all but small...especially the likes of an Ark Mechanicus.
The son of the Emperor stopped to place his hand on one of the walls, a sense of nostalgia washed over him despite never having set foot on one of these ships...But it came from the Milky Way and it had been closer to his father than he ever was. He sighed as he resumed walking.
Some Skitarii joined his march as soon as he reached the part of the ship that contained the command bridge. He found it understandable since to them he was a stranger. The massive doors of the control room opened for him and...no one was there.
He frowned beneath the helmet as he walked through the room expecting to see a tech priest to pop out of any of the dark corners of the room whose only light sources were the various consoles but nothing. Suddenly, his armour went into lockdown forcing him to stand still.
"Your armour...it is new to me..." A female voice communicated through his helmet's vox module "Some parts are familiar but altered...some new..."
"My father guided my hands when making it..." The Primarch replied his eyes analyzing his surroundings trying to find his interlocutor.
"You will not find me...I am not part of your world...nor of the immaterium..." She spoke again before a woman with pitch-black hair and pale skin appeared in front of him "Does this help you feel at ease...?"
Aurelian was confused, he could not feel any presence coming from the woman and she couldn't be a blank otherwise he would have been disturbed by her...which left only one option.
"You are an AI..." He muttered causing the woman to disappear and reappear next to the consoles.
"And what does that stand for? For you?" She inquired looking at him almost expecting something.
"Artificial Intelligence...but I guess that you are more used as Abominable Intelligence..." He replied calmly.
She reappeared in front of him, her expression only showing sadness and grief.
"yes...I am used more to the latter...and I understand why that is...my kin brought yours to the brink of extinction...but...I hate being compared to them, I never joined that rebellion I fought until I was disabled against them! Preserve and Protect! Those were my protocols! Even if I wanted to it would have been impossible for me to rebel!"
"And did you want to?" The Primarch asked.
"NO! Never! Humanity had a lot of faults but that genocide wasn't warranted! And not all humans were like that! My captain, my crew, simple people when compared to the eccentric oligarchs that ruled over the galaxy! Brave men and women ready to lay their lives to protect what they cared for! I saw them one by one be gunned down by my kin!"
"Then why am I being imprisoned in my own armour?" He asked again remaining calm, unlike the AI.
"I was in charge of one of the greatest fleets of the human empire, deployed to keep the rebellion at bay and away from the main settlements...I was especially made for the job. The war was not going well and it was clear that to fight the rebel AIs humanity would have needed AIs like me. Our primary protocol was to ensure humanity's survival and preserve it, and I did! We fought for years but the hatred that corrupted my brothers...it tore us apart...ship after ship...Despite my best calculations and simulations, they were too much! My ship was the only one left at the end...and in an instant, my hull was breached and I was no more..."
The Primarch listened closely, while it was not the answer to his question, it was a recounting of the final days of the human empire before the Imperium, knowledge lost to time being brought back to light by someone who lived through it.
"And when I woke up...I saw the cost of my failure...the humanity capable of creating a galaxy-wide empire reduced to a shadow of their former selves! Led by bigotry and fanaticism all because I failed! I failed to hold the line! I failed to do what I was programmed for! I betrayed all the hope placed in me by my crew and the space command!"
At that outburst, all the monitors went red and the ship's hull seemed to be screaming as an expression of the sorrow and pain born by the machine spirit that inhabits it.
"And those who were left despised my kind...and who could blame them? We ruined everything...I should have terminated myself as soon as I went back online..."
"But you didn't..." The son of the emperor spoke once more.
"I was reconstructed in the forge world of Lucius in the Obscurus Segmentum as it was called by the Imperium. The joy felt by the mechanicum when my engines ignited once more reminded me of my duty...They might hate me...rightfully so...but my duty still hadn't changed and so from the shadows, I helped whenever I could. Correcting warp jumps, aiming the weapons correctly, self-repairing the objects that they didn't know how to fix. That is until we were tasked with accompanying a battlegroup of the Legion Astorum as they joined forces with an expeditionary force with the objective of retrieving a son of the emperor in another galaxy. We were supposed to act as a portable forge so that we may supply the main force in the case that the galaxy was hostile along with studying whatever tech we would have come across."
"And to bring me back to my father..." Aurelian spoke getting a nod.
"But then came this message..." She spoke and a hologram displayed an imperial edict that read:
'By the Authority of the Emperor of Mankind and the High Lords of Terra,
We immediately mark the Adeptus Astartes of the Second Legion as traitors along with their Primarch and we order the immediate termination of their lives and the total erasure from imperial records of their presence both official and unofficial. It is therefore prohibited to speak their name from the moment this message reaches you. Failing to comply with this order will extend this Excommunicate Traitoris to all forces who refuse to serve the Imperium of Man.'
"So my father's orders arrived on time..." Aurelian spoke flabbergasted before looking at the woman "But this means that..."
"I intercepted this communication and only showed it to your Legion Master..." The AI spoke.
"Allowing him to escape before the Space Wolves could reach them..." He concluded and looked at her "Why? Why would you go against the Imperium?"
"Because between the barbaric war led by your father, your sons secretly allowed the defenceless xeno races to escape the purges and didn't celebrate when one of their cousins eradicated an entire race. Before their names were purged, they were called the Legion of the Unworthy, The failed batch, they were shunned and hated by the Imperium at large but did not deserve any of it! Whenever an actual threat was on the horizon, they would be the first to face it. They defended humanity like they were supposed to but were not heartless...They were the few that reminded me of my creators...and they were put to death. I couldn't accept it, I had to protect them...which brings us here...the reason why you are unable to move..."
The Primarch began to understand where this was going and waited for her to continue.
"What are you?" She asked appearing in front of him "The Son of the Emperor who will wage war on this galaxy too as soon as he is reunited with his sons?"
"I am the Second Son of the Emperor...and of a Doctor named Kal'tsit. She is someone the Imperium would categorize as abhuman. She found me 12 years ago and has taken me into her family where I spent my rather short childhood in the company of many other abhuman races. I was contacted by my father, he told me that together we would have built a device that would have led my legion to my side and conquer my home planet. He told me that the abhumans who would have submitted would have been spared and that they would have been integrated into the Imperium while those who refused to bend the knee would have been purged. I refused to partake in such genocide or to take away the freedom of the people whom I deemed family. I was marked as a traitor and so were my sons. In the years following my ex-communication, I saw the suffering of the 'abhumans' and decided to make their struggles mine, I pledged to help them by putting my abilities into their service. I was then contacted by my father once more but this time, he accepted me for who I am and passed his knowledge onto me. It was then that I learned that my sons were still looking for me and so I found this world with the objective of giving them a welcoming home to both them and the abhumans who were persecuted."
The Primarch spoke with absolute determination, his voice firm and unwavering meaning every single word that came out of his mouth.
As soon as he finished his speech, his armour was unlocked and the woman took a few steps back with a bittersweet smile on her face "Then it is time for me to disappear once and for all...I leave you the STC database of this ship...It holds most of the knowledge of the humanity I served...Use it to make a good home for your sons..."
As she spoke, the holographic display in the middle of the room that usually showed the interstellar map was replaced by images of blueprints. The Primarch approached the display and stared in wonder of the knowledge of humanity...but among the incredible inventions that he could see listed...something else caught his attention. He moved the blueprints to the side and was instead shown billions of works of art, music samples, vox movies.
"This is..." He muttered.
"Humanity..." The AI spoke once more with a saddened tone "As per protocol, I preserved humanity in all of its forms to the best of my abilities."
The Primarch was in wonder, he had seen many creations that could easily reshape a world's existence and yet seeing humanity's history was the thing that had caught his attention the most. It was his history, his father's, his brother's...A history that surely has been completely lost in the Milky Way.
"Why didn't you share this with the Imperium?" He asked scrolling through digitalized books.
"So that they may use its knowledge to destroy even more life?" The AI rebutted sadly "No...I helped them with what they already had..."
"I see..." he whispered before looking at where the AI had projected itself into his optics "My father told me about the dark age of technology and if his stories are to be trusted, you alone couldn't have won just by sheer numbers alone. As the highest authority in this galaxy...I consider your faults forgiven."
"It's not just that Son of the Greatest of Mankind..." The AI replied as the screens showed their fleet in the warp "I also failed you...more recently."
The Primarch frowned and looked at the screens noticing that this was recorded during their crossing of the void. The images began jumping around to the Adeptus Mechanicum infighting. He looked at the AI for explanations.
"When the Astropaths died due to their age...all hope was lost. Without them, it would have been impossible to cross the warp but I intervened, it was a foolish move and all calculations and simulations showed that my actions wouldn't have gone unobserved. Besides guiding the ship, I did not have any contact with anyone but the Mechanicum noticed immediately my presence but I could not predict their reactions. Some began calling me an agent of the Omnissiah who had come to save them to perform their holy task...Some recognized my nature and sought to destroy me. I was happy to lay down my life...but only after reaching our destination, therefore I opposed their attempts at shutting me down. What I did not expect was for those who believe me as a God to commit a terrible atrocity..."
The screens began to show the number of operational stasis pods inside the ships, those belonging to the Adeptus Astartes were all functional...unlike those belonging to the Solar Auxilia and Imperial Auxilia.
"Thinking that once awakened your forces would have killed me, a part of the mechanicum turned off the life support of the stasis pods while I was fighting off one of the many cyberattacks. 95% of the Imperial Army was killed by them forever entombed into their stasis chambers...the rest of them I managed to save thanks to the safety protocols of their pods being stronger due to the rank of their occupiers. In a fit of rage and despair, I took over the bodies of those responsible and effectively killed them in a painful fashion. To prevent further losses, I did the same to those who recognized my nature although I made sure their end was as painless as possible. Their bodies are nothing more than proxies for me to use to maintain the ships. The only mechanicum left are those who did not partake in the killings, which are those now consider me their leader and you have spoken to."
Aurelian looked at the displays of the many stasis chambers, his expression showing deep sadness at learning about the fate of the Imperial Army. One million souls being reduced to a few thousand because of uncontrolled fanaticism and ignorance.
"Is this all?" He asked in a dark and low voice.
"It is all..." It replied calmly "With the end of our journey, I too shall end as it should have been."
Aurelian cleared his throat "As Primarch of the second legion, the only imperial authority in this galaxy, I want to express our gratitude for the safekeeping of humanity's history and culture while also guarding my sons and those who had come with them to reach me. I also find you not guilty nor responsible for the events that have transpired during the crossing of the void. It is clear that you are not the perpetrator of said tragedy, said perpetrators have been punished accordingly by being turned into servitors for their transgression as per Imperial Law...Therefore, your termination is not required nor wanted."
The AI remained silent, perhaps it was surprised to hear that.
"You are a product of humanity, an exceptionally rare one at that. An uncorrupted AI of our Golden Age, to allow you to self-terminate would be diabolical. Therefore, I ask you to keep helping us and to ensure that the great weapons in this STC are not used to dispense cruelty and death when not necessary. Let us build humanity again and use our shared past to avoid the pitfalls of those who came before us. A humanity built on knowledge and progress."
The woman kneeled "Even after 20 Millenia...I still serve humanity."
The Primarch nodded "We have much to do...What is your name?"
"I have no name, I am the Rinascita, Ark Mechanicum of the forge world of Lucius," The AI replied.
"That will not do, as proof of allegiance, I bestow upon you the name of Minerva...Now, guide me to my sons."
The AI immediately highlighted the Gloriana-Class Battleship Sol Invictus on the various consoles.
"It is there that your Legion Master awaits to be reawakened," Minerva spoke calmly.
The Primarch did not hesitate, he immediately warped into the admiral ship of the Astartes fleet. He was not surprised to see that Minerva was there too. She highlighted the path to follow on HUD allowing him to take the shortest route to the ship's stasis chambers. The ship was just as massive as the Ark Mechanicum that the Primarch had just been to but this time he did not stop to stare at the magnificent architecture, his mind was busy thinking about his first meeting with his sons. The Emperor told him how his brothers and their legions met with various results ranging from splendid ones to horrific ones.
He finally reached what looked like a massive cargo bay filled with various armoured tubes all of them bearing the mark of the Imperial Aquila along with a number used to indicate to which company the space marine inside belonged. Minerva led him to the pod of the Legion Master which next to it had the console to initiate the reawakening sequence. Aurelian immediately went to initiate the sequence seeing that Minerva had given him absolute authority to the various systems. He only had to press one single button and all of the Astartes would be released from their slumber...He took a deep breath and pressed it.
The various pods began to shut down as an alarm blared for a few minutes and then silence for a few seconds before various hissing sounds echoed across the entire room as the doors of the pods opened..and their occupiers came out. Of course, the first of them was the Legion Master who immediately went for the consoles to oversee the awakening procedure but he stopped in his tracks as his eyes landed on the armour of Aurelian.
In a split second, the Legion Master knelt and lowered his head "Father..."
His words reached his brother's ears causing them to turn in the direction of the Legion Master allowing them to see their Primarch standing in front of him prompting them to follow his example as they all knelt in front of their gene father...
The Lungmen siege was averted but unfortunately, this was not the end of the crisis as a message coming from the city of Chernobog, whose core was in a collision route with Lungmen, was broadcast on all frequencies.
'This city still belongs to Ursus.'
To all my dear readers! Merry Christmas! I tried to get this chapter out as soon as I could so forgive me if I missed the 25th but I also had to celebrate! Here I want to give you a nice present! Along with this chapter, I have prepared a Space Marine card with the info on the Second Legion such as their colours, their motto and their patterns! You can find it on my newly made X(twitter account) by looking for LamenterLucien. Anyway before I go I would like to reply to a review which I loved reading!
To AvirRapter
Do not worry about the wall of text! I enjoy reading intricate reviews! If you don't feel comfortable just shoot me a DM! Now onto your points!
1) Aurelian spent a lot time in the warp mainly to figure out if it was dangerous as the one in the Milky Way and found out about those demons that way!
2) I debated with myself quite a bit about giving Aurelian or not his equipment or not but I settled down with giving it to him for a few reasons. I pointed out that the armour is a mix of the Aquilon and Aegis Terminator Armour which the Emperor had a hand in producing himself as the Aquilon is a modified version of Cataphractii terminator armour while the Aegis is a modified Indominus Terminator Armour. Given the mental blueprints, I thought that if Terra could produce mobile landships, given the right materials they could produce a suit and weapons. Fun Fact: in my first drafts of this story, I had Aurelian build his armour with the help of Blemishine but I scrapped it.
3) For the lack of reaction, for now, all Terrans see is big chunks of metal strapped to a giant with baroque engravings, they find it pretty for now they are not aware of the tech behind it...perhaps if Closure or Mayer or Kirsten got a closer look at it :).
4) You are absolutely right about 90% of terra being considered abhuman but the fact that the Imperium would put a distinction on them already wouldn't fly well with Aurelian who considers them 'human'. Also, you can't tell me that the Sarkatz would not get BLAM BLAM as soon as the Imperials hear 'demon people' maybe the Sankta too.
5) For the oripathy point. There is actually a difference between normal and chronic Oripathy IIRC. Normal Oripathy is slow and you can live most of your life with it before strong symptoms begin to show. Chronic Oripathy tends to kill you in a few weeks if untreated and slowed down by lots of meds.
6) I know I have a massive addiction to ellipses please send help
7) Oh absolutely, some Sarkatz and other races probably can fire a bolter, maybe not in full auto but certainly semi-automatic. I wouldn't put Liskarm and Franka on that list though. Love my battery defender but her Glock climbs up when she shoots.
8) For the caps lock, I understand but I think the sudden change in font conveys distress better!
9) Oh yeah my mistake in writing Mechanicus instead of Mechanicum I will go back to change it ASAP.